Right Back Where We Started
by Eliza4892
Summary: Sequel to This Is Both A Sin And A Tragedy. At the moment, irony seems to be a running theme in her life.


Irony seems to be a running theme in the life of Addison Forbes Montgomery ex-Shepherd's life. This is usually restricted to the little things such as going out to buy her copy of Vogue (her guilty pleasure) after it was over two weeks late in the mail, only to find it sitting in her mailbox that same day. Or choosing to take a cab to work instead of walking in order to preserve her new heels, only to break the heel off as she got out of the car, this after being in a traffic jam. Then there were the bigger things, like being invited to her ex-husband's wedding to the woman he not only left her for, but had sex with while she was only a few rooms away.

Yes, her life is full of ironic occurrences, but most of them she could handle, most of them she has learned to just laugh off. And these past few weeks, months, she's been lucky. Things have been going her way and she's probably due for a big karmic payback.

Which is why, two years after leaving Seattle for the second and final time, she's pretty sure she just watched Derek Shepherd walk into _her _hospital.

---

"You haven't seen Derek here have you?" Addison asks, leaning against the nurse's station, voice low.

The woman across from her, Isabelle, has been working here for as long as Addison can remember. She was here before Addison had left for Seattle, and she was still here when Addison got back. Add to the fact that she knew practically all the gossip in the entire hospital, and Addison has no doubts as to whether or not she would know.

"Derek?" The woman asks with raised eyebrows, looking up from her computer, though her fingers still move across the keyboard swiftly. "Derek Shepherd?"

"Look I know it sounds crazy, but I could've sworn I saw him when I was walking in this morning." Addison tells her, feeling just a tad embarrassed that she's probably just seeing things.

Isabelle seems to find this vaguely amusing. Addison can see it in her eyes, but she does a remarkable job of keeping that to herself, and not just plain laughing out loud. "No, I haven't seen Derek around here."

Addison nods her head, something like relief washing over her. No Derek, no problem. She goes to leave and collect her charts for the day when Isabelle pipes up again.

"Although," Addison turns, steeling herself, "I did hear the chief was meeting with a new doctor today."

There's a glint in Isabelle's eyes like she's trying to tell her something, and it's not a something Addison particularly wants to hear.

"Fuck."

---

Midway through the day she digs through her black contact book, stuffed to the brim with papers shoved in at random. She finally finds the slip of paper containing Mark's phone number (she made it hard to find so she couldn't call him should she ever get drunk enough to want to) and decides to call over to Seattle and see whether or not Derek has decided to make an impromptu trip to New York. She calls four times and gets his voice mail on every single try. All that's left is Izzie Stevens number (which she got at the reception), which is probably also Meredith Grey's home number, and Addison doesn't know if this is really such a good idea, but her fingers have already started dialing the number anyway.

It's the middle of the week, at just after noon, so she's surprised that someone's at home to pick up at all. "Stevens-O'Malley-Gr – oh who is it?"

The voice on the other end nearly makes her laugh. Alex Karev, who apparently has had it with listing off the names of all the people who now occupy the house, sounding like he just woke up. There is no good reason a doctor should be in bed at this hour unless they are on leave, or called in very, very sick. He doesn't sound sick, and leave is for attendings, which he is not.

"Is Meredith Grey there?" Addison asks, starting off down the hallway, deciding to talk while she walks. The first corner she turns she runs straight into someone. She mumbles a sorry under her breath, and looks up to see the face of the person she's just collided with.

"No, she's in –"

Addison cut him off, "Nevermind."

She flips the phone shut, and that clack reverberates throughout the empty hallway. Empty except for her and the woman with the dirty blonde hair, and the half-shocked, half-guilty look in her eyes.

She speaks first. "Meredith Grey. Fancy seeing you here."

"Addison, I…" Meredith's eyes flit around a bit, looking for a way out of this. Sometimes she wonders if she intimidates the other woman. There's a part of her that enjoys that idea very much, and so she stands just a little taller, her heels emphasizing her height. "He wasn't kidding about the possibility of running into you was he?"

So Derek is here. That proves she isn't insane, though she's kind of wishing she was. "Dare I ask what you exactly it is you two are doing here?"

"Um, we're—well, it's kind of…complicated." The blonde chews at her lip, looking up briefly at Addison. "I've actually got to go. But we'll catch up. Later." She adds a nod of her head, trying to seem enthusiastic even when it's crystal clear she just wants to get as far away from here as possible.

"Oh, yeah, okay," Addison says, and she steps to the side just a bit, out of Meredith's way so she can pass. Meredith gives her a tight smile, and kind of power walks down the hallway, though Addison doesn't know where or what she's running to in this foreign place. Quietly, to no one, she finishes, "We'll do that."

---

As it turns out he's not avoiding her. He's actively seeking her out.

She doesn't eat lunch at the hospital. There's a cute little café right next door, and every few days, when she gets sick of hospital food, she finds herself here.

She's just sitting down to eat, flipping through the Times when Derek sits down right across from her, like it hasn't been two years since they've seen each other.

"It's nice to know some thing's never change." He states, with this smile that she used to love.

Addison takes off her glasses, setting them down next to her on top of the newspaper. "How did you know I was here?"

"Meredith said she ran into you this morning, and when I asked Isabelle where you were she said you were on your lunch break." She mentally curses Isabelle for knowing her schedule as well as she does. "Figured you were probably here."

She leans forward, deciding to get right to the point. "Why are you here Derek? Why are either of you here?"

He looks kind of affronted by the way she ignores his attempt at small talk. She doesn't care; she's been puzzling over this most of the day, and she wants answers. "Richard gave chief to Mark a few months ago. I came there to be chief and that didn't happen. So I looked into other hospitals. I decided to go back home. And Meredith came with me."

"But here Derek? The same hospital. I came here to get away from you, from Mark, and now here you are again." She shakes her head, playing with her napkin.

"We learned to work together in Seattle. We can do it again." He says, like it's the simplest thing in the world. She wonders if he remembers those few months she spent in Seattle. Utter fucking chaos.

She realizes she's fidgeting, and so she forces her hands to still, placing them in her lap. She doesn't want to seem nervous, because she's not really, she's just anxious. Confused. A little too reflective at the moment. "So we kind of just wasted three years didn't we?"

He furrows his brow, "How do you figure?"

"We ended up in the exact same place we were before. Seattle was just one giant pit stop." She sighs, crossing her legs and leaning back just a bit. "Then again, you got a wife out of the deal, and I lost both a husband, and a…whatever Mark was. But we're still here again. It just all seems kind of…ironic."

"You seem to have taken a positive outlook on things. No bitterness, no anger. It's good. Civil." He observes.

"Yeah, well, I've been learning to find the humor." And she has. If she could laugh off being invited to their wedding, then she can laugh this off too. Maybe. Hopefully.


End file.
